The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) continued its crackdown on reporting requirement violations with penalties against three audit firms, including a BDO affiliate.
BDO Taiwan was fined $35,000, while Jendrach Accounting and Professional Services and Brazil-based Moore MSLL Lima Lucchesi Auditores e Contadores were each assessed $25,000 penalties, the PCAOB announced Friday. Each firm agreed to be censured in reaching settlement.
The PCAOB accused BDO and Jendrach of failing to timely disclose their respective roles regarding audits of issuers or broker-dealers on the required annual form. BDO was faulted for not reporting its apparent work at China United Insurance Service, while Jendrach similarly did not disclose it issued an audit report for broker-dealer GM Securities.
The PCAOB noted each firm’s internal compliance and reporting systems failed to identify the respective work should have been reported to the regulator.
At Moore, the firm failed to timely notify the PCAOB of its name change from Moore Stephens Lima Lucchesi Auditores e Contadores, as required under Form 3, according to the regulator.
“Firms must not take these obligations lightly,” said PCAOB Chair Erica Williams in the agency’s release. “Failures to make required disclosures undercut the PCAOB’s ability to protect investors.”
BDO and Moore did not respond to requests for comment. Jendrach could not be reached for comment. Each firm neither admitted nor denied the PCAOB’s findings in reaching settlement.
The PCAOB has penalized other firms recently for reporting requirement violations, including a $20,000 fine levied against CohnReznick last month.
The agency has been particularly active this week, with a trio of enforcement actions announced Tuesday and Wednesday followed by a $150,000 penalty levied against RAM Associates & Company on Thursday for quality control failures.
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